Lots of people want to get more followers on TikTok but aren’t sure how. Whether you’re an aspiring TikTok influencer hoping to get access to in-app monetization features like the Creator Rewards Program (for creators with 10,000 or more followers) or a small business owner growing your online presence to get your product in front of more eyes, how you gain followers matters. If your followers don’t interact with your posts, your engagement rate suffers and you won’t make money on TikTok.
Luckily, this guide shares the best ways to gain real, engaged followers on TikTok.
How to get more followers on TikTok (13 ways)
- Jump on trending sounds
- Create a series
- Try different content formats
- Tell stories
- Use the right hashtags
- Engage with your community
- Lean into your value proposition
- Post consistently
- Collaborate
- Talk about more than just business
- Pay attention to the analytics
- Start a challenge
- Add captions
For businesses and entrepreneurs, TikTok can foster connections and make money. To reach these goals, it helps to start with a strong base. Here are some ways to use TikTok to increase your follower count—and improve your engagement and content along the way:
Jump on trending sounds
The TikTok algorithm works by recommending videos that contain content similar to other videos you (or people like you) have enjoyed. One way the app identifies similar content is by the audio.
Therefore, if you use trending TikTok sounds when you make short-form videos , you increase your chances of reaching beyond your follower base. And if you find ways to make the trending sound fit your brand, you may also be able to persuade these viewers to follow you.
Vessi, a waterproof shoe brand, uses trending sounds while maintaining its brand personality. For example, the brand used the Power of Three sound, which features witches chanting incantations, to ask for rainy weather so customers have a reason to buy its shoes.
To find the latest TikTok trends, check out TikTok’s Creative Center, a powerful tool with data on trending hashtags, sounds and songs, creators, and videos. Filter these elements by time period to see what was popular in the past seven, 30, or 120 days.
To pick trending songs that align with your brand, here are a few things you can try:
- On TikTok Creative Center, dig into regional popularity and related interests for sounds.
- Study your competitors’ TikToks to see how they handle trending sounds.
- Consider what songs you can quickly pair with relevant content to take advantage of user interest.
If you’re using trending songs, click on the “Approved for business use” option and filter out songs unavailable to your brand.
Rachel Karten, a social media consultant and author of the newsletter Link in Bio, suggests going further. “As a brand, go the extra mile to ask an artist or ask the creator of a sound if you can use their work,” Rachel says. “If they say no or don’t respond, respect that boundary. They are a person who made something, and as a brand, I think [that’s] important to remember.”
Create a series
With a content series, you can offer compelling, funny, or informational content that gives viewers a reason to return to your page. This might encourage them to follow you so they don’t miss an episode.
Jewelry brand Alexis Bittar has a fun take on a content series. The company launched a satirical mini telenovela featuring fictional socialite Margeaux Goldrich (played by Patricia Black). The story follows Margeaux, an “emotionally abusive Upper East sider” who wears Alexis Bittar jewelry, and assistant Hazel, who deals with her antics.
In one clip, Margeaux goes to an acupuncturist. With Margeaux feeling renewed, Hazel takes it as an opportunity to ask for a raise, which goes as expected. The comments show that viewers are invested in watching the dynamic between the characters, which has developed over four seasons and hundreds of short videos.
You can go in the direction of Alex Bittar and create a character that represents your brand, or you can go simpler. For example, you can create a series where you pack orders. Or, if you run a hair care brand, you can ask a random person on the street if you can style their hair with your products.
To create a series, brainstorm ideas and determine whether you have enough content you can produce. Pick a schedule that you can stick to (e.g., weekly) and be flexible. You might find your series changes with audience input.
Try different content formats
While TikTok is famously quiet on the inner workings of its algorithm, it does encourage users to try different content formats. According to a TikTok report, 76% of users like to see a variety of photos and videos. Users also suspect TikTok promotes profiles that use its different features, especially when it rolls out new formats.
Videos allow brands to show off more of their personality, and photos can be easier to turn around, letting brands produce content more quickly. You can also opt for lower lift versions of video content. For example, makeup brand Merit Beauty uses a series of short video clips but instead of overlaying speech, the company accompanies the video with a song.
Doing a mix also helps you explore different types of storytelling. Sustainable shoe brand Allbirds posts a variety of short- and long-form content, including a visit to a farm starring former NFL player Marshawn Lynch. The video doesn’t directly promote Allbirds but does revolve around its brand values of preserving nature.
Tell stories
To attract and keep more TikTok followers, focus on high-quality, engaging content. Posts that feel relatable and honest give audiences a reason to want to keep interacting with your content.
In a study of 4,000 short-form videos across TikTok and Instagram, marketing agency Neil Patel Digital found that storytelling videos resulted in 23.09% more views and 19.52% more comments. This can help keep your video circulating on For You pages, which can lead to more followers.
Angel investor, content creator, and founder of Hot Smart Rich Media Maggie Sellers uses her TikTok account to share about her personal life and provide advice to her audience. In one post, she explains that she doesn’t overplan her weekends to avoid burnout. With a more flexible schedule, she enjoys her weekends while structuring other parts of her life, a message that resonates with people who feel they never get a chance to relax.
“I think I’m a storyteller by heart,” says Maggie Sellers on an episode of Shopify Masters. “And that’s what a good marketer is. Somebody that’s good at brand marketing. They can tell a story.”
Telling a story can take various forms. Consider this post from Dieux Skin addressing a commenter’s concern about labeling and how it’s fixing it. This aligns with Dieux’s goal of being transparent and open with their audience, a value aligned with the brand.
“We call ourselves a ‘too-much-information brand,’” Dieux cofounder Charlotte Palermino says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “Just sharing what your skin needs, what it doesn’t, how it’s so varied, and that, quite frankly, our products are not going to be for everybody, really resonated with people, because it’s real.”
Use the right hashtags
Hashtags boost a video’s discoverability because they make it easier for the platform to categorize your content and get it in front of the right people. This in turn can increase your chances of getting new followers.
You can use TikTok’s Creative Center to identify the best hashtags for your brand. On the hashtag page, you can filter by industry, time period (the last seven, 30, or 120 days), and terms that are new to the top 100.
If you click “See analytics,” it shows more about the audience interested in this content. You’ll see information on demographics, location, and related interests, which can help you find your target audience.
Another way to find relevant hashtags is by looking at the TikTok analytics for your own account. In the app, go to Profile > TikTok Studio > Analytics.
At the bottom of the Overview section, there’s a search queries section that shows you the searches that led users to your profile for the last 90 days.
Clarity about your niche can help you find more specific hashtags, which increases your chances of connecting with the right users. You can also try social listening and keyword tracking tools related to your niche to learn about consumer behavior, audience preferences, and industry trends.
Furniture and home décor brand McGee & Co. uses a branded hashtag (#mcgeeandco) as well as more general hashtags related to its niche, such as #homedecor and #homeinspo.
Engage with your community
Engaging with your followers shows you’re approachable, which can be appealing to potential followers who see that you value their input. Responding to comments fosters conversations, which signals to the TikTok algorithm to boost your content, expanding your reach.
There are different ways to engage: You can use TikTok’s Q&A feature, pin FAQs, create your own challenge, or go live on TikTok to encourage likes, comments, shares, DMs, and of course, click-throughs and purchases. You can also share user-generated content relevant to your brand, crediting the original creator to boost visibility among their followers.
In one TikTok post, one of the cofounders of perfume brand Eauso Vert asked followers what they would like to see from the brand on the account. This provided an opportunity for followers to learn more about the company.
In the comment section, the brand followed up with those who made suggestions by promising to address them in future videos, which also gives viewers a reason to follow you.
Lean into your value proposition
Upping your follower count is about more than gaming the TikTok algorithm. It’s also about showing users why they should follow you. One way to do that is by reiterating your value proposition, or the unique benefits and value your product or service provides your target audience.
You can create multiple videos that show Tiktok users your unique selling point (USP)—whether it’s new information or a fresh take on a topic, like founder of Hot Smart Rich Media Maggie Sellers does with angel investing.
“Content creation was something that I thought I could do differently,” Maggie says. “At the time, nobody was talking about business in the way that I have.” She avoids using jargon and breaks down complicated concepts as though she’s speaking to a friend. Maggie drove a conversation around angel investing and business on TikTok, democratizing that knowledge in a way she hadn’t yet seen on the platform.
Another brand that leans into its value proposition is olive oil brand Graza, which encourages customers to incorporate its high-quality products in their everyday meals. “Olive oil in North America has always been positioned as something that you shouldn’t cook with,” Graza founder Andrew Benin says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “On one side, things were really luxurious, and on the other side, things were really pared-back and private label and no investment in product quality.”
On TikTok, Graza shares recipes for all occasions that call for using oil, including a fried zucchini stick that isn’t precious about the amount of olive oil it uses. The zucchini stick is an everyday and even casual recipe that shows customers that you don’t need a special occasion to use high-quality olive oil.
Post consistently
TikTok’s algorithm reportedly favors active accounts, or creators who post videos regularly. Posting consistently also gives you more opportunities to land on someone’s For You page, which can help you gain followers.
According to Pew Research, the most popular content creators (users with one million or more followers) post every 2.2 days, while less popular accounts (between 5,000 and 7,000 followers) post every 5.8 days.
Perusing popular TikTok video ideas can help you come up with new videos that fit your brand. You can also repost user-generated videos, behind-the-scenes shots, or other easier post types, like photo posts, to help you generate more content.
“Figure out ways to make your life easier,” says social media consultant and author Rachel Karten. “Something that’s great about trends is that they’re often very easy to execute. It might just be a sound that’s over you panning over your product, and it’s a single shot. It takes you five minutes to edit and put together. You want to make sure that your mix of posts include harder to execute posts and easier to execute posts to make it doable for you.”
Collaborate
Collaborating with others—whether they are TikTok influencers in your niche or other brands with complementary products—gets your posts in front of new audiences.
For brands working with other brands, it’s an opportunity to reach each others’ followers and diversify marketing. For example, Fishwife, a tinned seafood company, and chili crisp brand Fly By Jing teamed up to offer a new product: a smoked salmon with chili crisp. On TikTok, both brands shared videos to build excitement about the collaboration.
Fly By Jing took a more educational approach, sharing a video of someone explaining how they mixed the salmon with rice and Kewpie mayo. The brand typically shares videos that show how its products can make meals come together quickly.
Fishwife shared a few items, including the salmon with chili crisp, that could appeal to spicy food lovers. On-screen text described the flavor profiles as music played in the background. Fishwife typically shares videos set to high-energy music.
Both brands remained true to themselves, so when new audiences arrived at their page, they would understand who they were following.
If working with an influencer, you can also tap into their established audience. You may feel compelled to ask the heavy-hitters—TikTok accounts with millions of followers—but don’t discount micro-influencers who may have more followers and sway in your specific industry or niche.
Talk about more than just business
Expanding your topics beyond business and showing the real you often makes your content more dynamic and gives users more reasons to follow you.
Maggie recommends approaching content creation the same way you would a conversation with a friend at dinner. “We don’t just talk about business at dinner,” she says. “We talk about fashion. We talk about travel. We talk about relationships.”
She wanted her TikTok account to show a more human touch.
“I knew I wanted my content to resonate with people in a healthy, positive way,” she says. So even people who weren’t buying from her still felt like they could be a part of her story.
Pay attention to the analytics
TikTok analytics reveal trends in your follower count, post performance, and overall engagement. Studying your past video analytics shows what content performs well, which helps you replicate that content to get more views on TikTok.
In the Analytics section, check out “Content” and filter your top posts by most new viewers, which shows you the posts that circulate the most to people who don’t know you. Take note of any patterns, such as related themes, with this content. For example, did shorter posts perform better? Use these insights in your approach to future content.
You can also dig into the “Viewers” section and look at gender, age, or locations to inform your TikTok strategy. If you see that your content resonates most with people in your city, you might focus on a more local angle.
Start a challenge
Starting a challenge can be an effective way to gain new followers. Athletic apparel brand Gymshark posted about Gymshark 66, a 66-day challenge encouraging users to stick with their wellness and fitness goals to build a habit. Users posted about the challenge using the hashtag #gymshark66 on TikTok documenting their progress.
One of the benefits of this kind of challenge is that it encourages participants to use the hashtag more than once as they try to reach 66 days of consistent activity. The brand also introduced the challenge at the right time: before the beginning of the year when people are making resolutions. Lastly, this tactic helps the brand gain new followers because the challenge name uses the brand’s name. This means others can trace it back to Gymshark as people jump on the trend and create content on social media platforms.
Add captions
Captions are another useful tool in increasing your follower count. Add keywords to your text, which helps the TikTok algorithm understand how to categorize your content and increase your visibility on For You pages. They can also be a good place to add additional context or even show off your personality, which can attract users.
Cookie brand Last Crumb uses its captions to complement its humorous videos. For example, in a video announcing a collaboration with PopUp Bagels, the brand stated, “Your favorite carbs just teamed up.”
Should I buy TikTok followers?
While it might be tempting to buy followers to make your account seem more popular, it’s something you should avoid. Fake followers, like bots, will not engage with your feed and won’t help you get in front of more users.
Additionally, TikTok can penalize accounts that create fake engagement. It may remove likes and followers, as well as remove content or ban your account.
How to get more followers on TikTok FAQ
Do brands pay for TikTok followers?
Some products market themselves as TikTok growth tools, allowing you to pay for TikTok followers, likes, comments, and shares to artificially boost your TikTok presence. However, these are strictly against TikTok’s rules, and using them can lead the platform to ban your account.
How do you get TikTok followers fast?
The fastest way to get TikTok followers is to make sure your content is visible. Use trends and hashtags and post regularly. For long-term growth, create high-quality content for your target audience. Hop on the TikTok app to see what other creators are posting so you can incorporate and build on the successful elements of their posts.
Why am I not getting followers on TikTok?
Follower growth is as much an art as it is a science. To get a larger audience, make sure you’re regularly posting high-quality content that speaks to your target audience, and incorporate relevant hashtags and trending topics or sounds to increase your discoverability.
